By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Inspired like all other Filipino boxers by the incredible achievements of the world’s pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao who rose from world flyweight champion all the way to pulverizing “The Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya in a welterweight bout, Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire wants to follow Pacquiao’s footsteps but carve his own name.
Heir-apparent to Pacquiao in the minds of most Filipinos at least, Donaire takes the first step on his own glory road when he moves up to super flyweight to battle Panama’s tough Rafael “El Torito” Concepcion for the WBA super flyweight interim title that Concepcion once held after a stunning 10th round knockout of world-rated Filipino southpaw AJ “Bazooka” Banal in July 2008.
Not only does Donaire want to establish his own brand of Pinoy power in a Top Rank fight card aptly titled “Pinoy Power 2” at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Sunday, Manila Time, which will be telecast in the Philippines by Solar Sports and GMA 7, he also wants to smash the Panamanian jinx where Filipinos have never won in four world title fights against boxers from Panama which includes Concepcion’s interim title win over Banal.
Concepcion has boasted about the Panamanian fighters success against Filipinos at a time when mainly Mexicans stepped into the ring to take on the devastating southpaw Pacquiao and believes that fact should give him the edge over Donaire.
But while he concedes Concepcion is a “tough kid” Donaire is confident that his speed, punching power and experience will prevail .
As Jeff Haney of the Las Vegas Sun has so correctly pointed out Donaire has “ superb technical skills, he’s physically imposing for his weight class and he packs knockout power in both fists. Donaire also has charisma to spare, a trait that has helped him develop a rabid cult following among boxing fans, and one that will serve him well as he aims to establish himself as the most prominent fighter in the sport’s lighter weight divisions.”
Donaire first drew the attention of fight fans and the boxing media with a sensational fifth round stoppage of the brash Australian Vic Darchinyan, the IBF/IBO champion on July 7, 2007. In his first defense of the titles after almost one year of inactivity, Donaire mauled Luis Maldonado into submission in eight rounds and was then tested a bit by little South African Moruti Mthalane for six rounds before the ring physician instructed referee Joe Cortez to stop the bout to protect a dangerously cut Mthalane.
In his last defense of the flyweight titles, Donaire proved that undefeated Raul “Cobra” Martinez had no venom and dropped him four times en route to a 4th round TKO before jubilant hometown fans at the Araneta Coliseum in Manila.
Donaire is now taking the first step in what he believes will be a long journey all the way to possibly a super featherweight/junior lightweight title where Filipino great Gabriel “Flash” Elorde reigned for almost seven-and-a-half years and was enshrined in the boxing Hall-of-Fame.
Watching a couple of Elorde tapes after the Martinez fight, Donaire immediately picked up some of the savvy defensive moves of Elorde and slowly began integrating them into his own particular style, on occasions switching to a southpaw stance where he is also comfortable and which accounts for the power in his left.
Top Rank Promotions astute Bob Arum has told us Donaire would like to challenge either Jorge “Travieso” Arce or Fernando Montiel at bantamweight after he hopefully makes Concepcion his 21st consecutive victim and then move up to superbantam.
Top Rank’s Carl Moretti was quoted by Haney as saying “Nonito has a big, strong frame.When you look at him, you just think, ‘Wow.’ There are other names in those divisions, like (Jorge) Arce, like (Fernando) Montiel. That gives the kid so many options for a lot of attractive fights. Those are the kind of fights that can make those divisions more attractive overall.”
The Darchinyan win earned Donaire honors from the prestigious Ring Magazine for “knockout of the year” and “upset of the year.”
Here’s a scary notion: Looking back at the fight today, Donaire says he was competing at perhaps 70 percent of full strength that night. After several years of taking fights at 115 or 118 pounds, sometimes on short notice, Donaire was returning to the 112-pound division to face Darchinyan and wasn’t sure he had dropped the weight in an optimal manner.
Donaire told the Las Vegas Sun “I’m much closer to my potential now.One thing that stood out against Darchinyan was that I showed I had the heart to perform for a crowd, that I wasn’t going to let anyone or anything or any kind of pressure get to me or mess me up. He was the most feared fighter in the division at that time, and I took him out.” Deep down inside of him he plans to do the same to Concepcion if he gets an opening and in the process erase the Panamanian jinx.
